ON THE WATER: BOATINGSan Diego sailors are riding a wave of recent success

By Bill CenterSTAFF WRITER

February 1, 2005

San Diegans won two titles and claimed a number of medals over the past two weeks during two Grand Prix-level competitions sailed off Florida.

The wins were turned in by Bill Hardesty and Chris and Kara Busch during Key West Race Week.

Then former high school rivals Andrew Campbell and Mikee Anderson-Mitterling claimed silver medals during the Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta in Miami.

Vince Brun won a bronze medal at Miami while J.J. Isler finished fourth in her debut as a skipper in the Yngling class. Mark Reynolds (Star) and Hardesty (Finn) scored fifths at Miami.

At Key West, Hardesty not only skippered Phillipe Kahn's Pegasus to a first in the Melges 24 class, he garnered Boat of the Week honors for the team with a last-race victory to claim the twin prizes.

Pegasus had slipped to fourth going into the final day.

"But my team allowed me to still have all the confidence in the world," said Hardesty. "They just said 'get off the starting line in good shape and we'll do the rest.' We went out with the attitude of winning the race as being the only chance we had to win the regatta."

Hardesty's crew included 2004 Olympic gold medalist and co-Yachtsman of the Year Kevin Burnham.

The Busches celebrated their second One-Design 35 victory in four years at Key West on Wild Thing, although this one was special for Chris. He had just regained his amateur status, which meant he could drive the boat.

"Except for the Transpac race in 2003 (in which Wild Thing won its class), the last time I drove was in an Etchells regatta in 1994," said Chris. "It was nice driving our boat to a win. I progressively got better."

Wild Thing had to win three of the last four races to gain the title.

Husband-wife rivals Peter and J.J. Isler skippered boats in Division I of the PHRF at Key West. J.J. finished fourth on the Transpac 52 Rosebud while Peter was seventh on the 58-foot Talisman.

Tom Carruthers' Invisible from San Diego finished fourth in the J-105 champ while 2004 class champ Zuni Bear, co-sailed by San Diego's Richard Bergmann and Chris Bennett, finished eighth. Mark Reynolds sailed on the Kahn entry that finished ninth in the Farr 40 class while San Diego's Kyle Hintze's Traveling circus was 49th in the Melges 24 fleet.

At Miami

Once rivals on the local (and national) high school scene, collegiate sophomores Campbell (Georgetown) and Anderson (USC) are candidates for the '08 Olympics in different classes.

Campbell lost the single-handed Laser title at Miami to Florida's Brad Funk. San Diego's Brian Buffaloe was 27th. Coronado's Anderson, sailing with San Diego's David Hughes as his crew, finished second to a Dutch team in the men's 470 at Miami,. San Diego's Graham Biehl crewed for third-place finisher Stuart McKay in the 470.

Brun was one of three San Diegans in the top 10 in Star. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Reynolds and Phil Trinter placed fifth and George Szabo (with Eric Monroe) was 10th.

J.J. Isler teamed with Pease Glaser and Laura Schmidt to finish one point out of second in their first shot at the Yngling class. Hardesty was the fourth-ranked U.S. skipper in the Finn.

San Diego's Zack Maxam skippered on the third-place boat in the 49er class while sister Lauren crewed on the seventh-place boat in the women's 470s. San Diego's Michael Ross crewed on the fourth-place boat in the Paralympics Sonar class.